Samuel Hunt Begley

In the red corner, weighing in at 10 pounds 7 oz., Sam "the Hoss" Begley. Just kidding, today January 14, 2012, at 2:11 p.m. Samuel Hunt Begley was born. This is the story of his birth.

On Friday morning Finn, Michael and I went to visit my OB, Dr. Rossell at Baptist. I learned that I was only dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced. I left feeling very sure that Sam would not come until next week. My induction was set for the 25th of January just in case.

After leaving Baptist we stopped at the McDonald's for a little breakfast. Finn ate a potato cake sitting on his knees looking out the window. After he was finished he got interested in the guy in the booth behind us. He would point and say "look at that guy." Then he started saying "he' dead." We got so tickled, but decided to leave before Finn tried to touch him.

When we got home I received a wonderful email from my dear friend Wanda King. She said that she and her husband saw our little family sitting at the McDonald's.

Later in the day Dad came to pick up Finn for a sleepover at Grandad and Gigi's house. As he was watching his Grandad put the carseat in the car I got a little teary. I couldn't say why, but I was just a little sad to see him go. I gave him a big hug and asked him "what am I going to do while you are gone." Very seriously he looked at me and said "work upstairs." It broke my heart.

I took the day to finish up on some work that needed to be done and then I met Michael at Maggiano's for a date night. After a wonderful meal, we went to see "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." We ran into Brandon and Carissa at the theater and watched with them.

I felt a little weird during the movie, but I had been feeling weird and miserable for three weeks, so I really didn't think that much about it.

At 6:00 a.m. the next morning (1/14/12) I felt a fairly strong contraction. After it was over I went back to sleep until the next one came on. At around 7:45 I tapped Michael on the shoulder and mentioned that I thought that I was having contractions but that they were pretty far apart so no need to worry. While the contractions were several minutes apart they were still quite painful so I really couldn't go back to sleep. Instead I decided to go ahead and take a shower. The minute my feet hit the floor the contractions starting coming at 3:00 minutes apart. I was sure that I was experiencing fake labor due to how quickly the contractions were coming.

Just to be on the safe side I decided to start putting a few things in a bag. The contractions were really close together and painful so I wasn't really concentrating on what I was packing - I was basically just grabbing things and putting them in the suitcase. (Despite my half-hearted packing job I mostly got out of the house with everything I needed.)

I was still in complete denial and told Michael to not worry about getting up, we had plenty of time. I went downstairs to clean up the kitchen and heard Michael get in the shower (he wasn't buying my fake labor talk). After a few minutes I decided to sit on the couch and actually see how close the contractions were coming. After I sat down I noticed how bad the contractions were and we called the doctor who told us to come on in.

We arrived at Baptist Hospital at around 10:00 a.m. Michael dropped me off at the door and went find parking while I checked in. Thankfully I had pre-registered so I was able to get a room really quickly. Thank goodness too because I was in a lot of pain. I learned that I was 5 cm. dilated. I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get an epidural but they assured me that as long as I could hold still I could get whatever I wanted.

They rushed me to a "Labor and Delivery" room and within 30 minutes the epidural was in. The nurse anesthesiologist was wonderful! I didn't feel a thing after that. Immediately after the epidural was in I measured between 7 and 8 cm. The nurse told me that Sam would probably be here within a couple of hours.

Just like with Finn the epidural made me really sleepy and really nauseated! The nurse gave me some anti-nausea medication and I did start to feel better. Around this time they checked me and I was dialated to 10 cm. Doctor Brown told me that we was going to let me sit at 10 for a while so that I wouldn't have to push as much later.

As I was laying in the bed, Deniece came and she and Michael had lunch. It was during this time that I felt at my most nauseated. I was very groggy and a little "out of it" but I did hear Michael say "I heard your water break." Deniece and I thought he was crazy, but low and behold he was right. A few minutes later, a team of nurses ran in. I heard them say that my blood pressure was really low. They gave me some medicine and within a few minutes I felt much better and much less nauseated. A few minutes later Dad, Gina and Finn came into the room. Finn was a bit nervous about seeing me in the bed. He wanted to hug me, but was very cautious. He kept asking people to check on me. It was really sweet.

Finn and Daddy in the waiting room.

After my water broke the doctor decided to go ahead and deliver. Sam was quite a bit harder to deliver that Finn was. I believe that I pushed for about 25 minutes. I was so exhausted. I pushed so hard that I felt like I was going to throw up. After he was completely out we learned why - Sam was so difficult to deliver because he was so big! As I put earlier - 10 pounds, 7 oz. He was born at 2:11 p.m. (approximately 4 hours after arriving at the hospital). He had a headful of blonde hair. It was the oddest color of blonde I had ever seen - it almost looked silver or grey.

Right after he was born all the medical professionals in the room were stunned at how big he was. I heard the doctor go "wow." He was so very impressed with the size of the chord - it was huge too. I really feel quite vindicated in all my complaining. I have been feeling miserable for weeks. Now it makes perfect sense.

The first visitor to the room was the Finnster. He was excited to see me and Sam. I am so sad that I don't recall a lot about his reaction. I do remember that he was quiet and gentle. He smiled and said "that's baby Sam." He wasn't overly interested in touching Sam, but didn't seem disturbed by his presence. He was most excited about announcing to the people coming in the door that "baby Sam is here!" Next, Mom, Deniece, Dad and Gina came in to visit. They would only let us have 5 visitors (including Michael) back at one time. Shortly after Emily, Greg and Chelsea came back to see Sam.









As I mentioned, I was pretty much out of it and observed most of the goings by through extreme cold/shivers and extreme itching. Epidurals are great, but they certainly have their own sets of problems. I felt a lot worse after having Sam than I did with Finn - probably because Sam was bigger and required a little more work.



About two hours after Sam's birth they put us in private room (7714). It was a nice room at the end of a quiet hallway. Deniece and Finn came up to room for a few minutes before going home for the evening. Our first visitor to the new room was Aunt Sharon. She brought salads, chips, and eggrolls from Chili's. It was wonderful - I was really hungry by that time. I had a piece of toast at 9:00 and didn't end up eating supper until 7:00ish. Sam took to Sharon right away! Then Brandon, Carissa, Addison and Ella stopped by to visit. Sam was in their with us the entire time.

In order to keep him soothed through the visits I let him suck on my pinky finger. He is definitely one of those babies that needs to have something to suck on. He likes his pacifier, but really likes our pinky fingers.

After all the visitors left we let Sam go to the nursery for his bath and for the evening. Michael and I crashed and watched SNL until we fell asleep. Right before going to sleep we made a quick trip to the nursery to see Sam. I love looking at my children in the nursery. Michael was exhausted, but I caught my second wind by that point.

I think I woke up every hour the first night. Between feeling hot, feeling happy/excited, all the nurses coming into take my vitals and being worried that I would miss them bringing Sam to me, I didn't sleep very well. I think I got out of bed at 4:00 to go buy a coke and a pack of crackers. The nurses caught me and gave me cereal too. Michael was so tired that he didn't know that I turned the TV on at 4:00 and watched until 5:00.

They brought Sam in at 5:30 for a feeding. He is already a pro eater. He goes at it with a vengeance too! Finn had a harder time with it at first, but Sam took to eating like a fish to water. After the nursery took Sam back I slept a few more hours and then woke up for good about 8:30.

Once up I took my first shower - heavenly - and then I got ready for the day while watching Sunday Morning. Next Michael and I went down to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. At 10:00 they finally brought Sam back to the room with a report that he is very healthy.




At noon Greg and Shelley came and brought gifts. Shortly thereafter Grandad and Gigi stopped by with Pizza. At 2:00ish Nana came followed by John and Victoria and at 3:00 Finn and Gran came by. Gran took Finn to the movie to see Beauty and the Beast. Once Finn arrived he gave me a big hug and then hopped in the car with Grandad and Gigi. I was really sad to see Finn go. I was so afraid that he felt replaced. I missed him terribly and just wanted to sit and cuddle with him.


Later that night Mimi came and Gran, Michael, Mimi and I sat around and relaxed a bit. Once they left we ordered dinner and Michael, Sam and I watched the Golden Globes (one of my favorite nights of television). At 8:00ish we let Sam go to the nursery and we settled in for the evening. I slept much better on this night.





These are just a few pictures that I took of Sam before we returned him to the nursery.

Monday morning we woke up at around 8:30. I took a quick shower and then my doctor came by to check on my progress. She told me that if I felt good enough I could go home. I told her that I felt fine and that I was ready to go home. I really enjoy being in the hospital, but for some reason this time I was ready to leave the minute they gave me the go ahead. He couldn't leave that day until Sam was circumcised so we knew we had a while. While we were waiting I ordered up breakfast. At 9:30 dad brought Finn by. Finn though the hospital was pretty neat. He kept asking Michael to go to the living room. He meant the waiting room. Michael finally discovered that the reason Finn wanted to go to the waiting room was so that he could get something from the vending machine.




I spent the bulk of the day holding Sam in bed. He ate, napped and snuggled until 2:30 when they came to get him to take him for his circumcision. Finn was pretty restless, so to keep him busy Michael took him to Qdoba's to get lunch and then walked around the hospital with them. Finn racked up in the hospital - Michael got him some chocolate milk in the cafeteria. By the time they came to get Sam Finn was sound asleep on the couch. We tried to get him to take a nap earlier. I let him come sit in my bed and we watched cars. He didn't go to sleep but it was nice to cuddle with Finn.












Sam's procedure was finished up by 3:45 and we were packed and ready to go by 4:30. After everything was loaded into the car we put Sam in his carseat and the nurse helped to load him in the car. Of course, we forgot the base to the carseat, but he were able to buckle him in safely regardless. Finn thought it was pretty neat to have Sam in the backseat with him.





It felt so nice having my boys in the backseat. Our little family feels so different already. I am so happy and thankful that God blessed with a wonderful husband and two sweet, healthy little boys.